Back to School!

-Last years back to school article written by Dr. Brkich that still resonates this September

As this school year is about to begin, many parents and students are understandably experiencing more anticipatory anxiety than usual. At the best of times, the beginning of every school year is marked by a higher degree of nervous apprehension until things settle in and a routine is established. Many questions are running through the minds of parents as we anticipate the unknown.  

As a parent of a 12 year old, like every parent, I have more questions than answers about how things will unfold in the new school year.  Will school be a safe place for my child? Will my child be able to learn as well in the new environment? What challenges and pitfalls lie ahead that nobody has anticipated? What new things will parents have to learn and contend with? As if we don’t have enough to deal with already.

Timely Resources from the New York Times on Back to School

Here are some additional resources from the New York Times you may be interested in, the views expressed courtesy of the New York Times and not necessarily of the clinic. 

New Faces at Our Clinic!

Noel Jago is an Osteopathic Manual Practitioner who recently moved to Prince George from Ontario where he was practicing outside the city of Barrie. Noel is a graduate of the Canadian College of Osteopathy 5-year program in Osteopathic Manual Practice. The program provided intensive in-class instruction, supervised clinical experience and a mandatory research component. The program meets the requirements of the World Health Organization “Benchmarks for Training in Osteopathy”. Noel is an associate member in good standing of the Ontario Association of Osteopathic Manual Practitioners and has an application pending with OsteopathyBC.

The most common question posed to Osteopathic Manual Practitioners is “What is Osteopathy?” Simply put, Osteopathy is a client-centred manual therapy discipline that employs gentle manual techniques to assess and treat areas pain and restriction, termed somatic dysfunction, in the human body.

Like other manual therapies Osteopathy is based on the understanding of the relationship between the structure and function of the body, with the objective of enhancing the body’s inherent ability to heal. What makes the Osteopathic approach special is the understanding that healing occurs not only by addressing specific areas of restriction, but by coordinating and integrating these areas with the body as a whole. Addressing the body as “a functional unit” is key to Osteopathic thought and practice.

Osteopathy is a safe, gentle, and effective therapy for addressing headaches, back pain, joint pain and restricted mobility, digestion issues, tinnitus, vertigo, etc. Noel has treated people of all ages from 2 weeks to 98 years as-well-as having the honor of treating many women through their pregnancies (weeks 18-40).

Noel will be setting up his independent Osteopathic Manual Practice in our clinic.  More information, rates, and online booking is available at his website www.noeljago.ca

Anxiety, It's Not Just in Your Head!

-from the desk of Dr. Brkich

Anxiety is a universal feeling that we all experience in times of stress, uncertainty, or danger. It is an innate, built-in, adaptive response that is initiated by internal mechanisms over which we do not have full control. Anxiety is triggered automatically by the nervous system without the need for rational, deliberate, or conscious thinking, although thinking negative, scary, or irrational thoughts can bring it on.

In appropriate circumstances anxiety is appropriate. Anxiety is a normal survival mechanism and a part of the “fight or flight” or sympathetic division of our autonomic nervous system. If a grizzly bear is approaching us it is essential and appropriate to be anxious. Anxiety that is felt when there is no reason to be anxious is a functional anxiety that is very common but is neither desirable nor beneficial. A persistent functional anxiety that doesn’t turn off may feel as if something is wrong with the brain or nervous system. In medical terms persistent functional anxiety may be categorized as generalized anxiety disorder. In my opinion the hormones and neurotransmitters that underlie generalized anxiety disorder are no different from those that trigger the anxiety that we would normally feel when we are faced with a stressful event or danger. Anxiety is anxiety no matter where it comes from. Putting a descriptive label on anxiety on the basis of its symptoms or its severity doesn’t help us understand or treat it.

Kids Immune Friendly Smoothies!

Contact us to book an appointment today!